This used to be my playground
So I'm at my parents' house in Pennsylvania. Being unemployed, I decided to take some time off (from what, I don't know) and come home for some home cooking, central air conditioning, and tax-free clothing purchases. I also decided to take up golf again. So I borrowed my brother's old clubs on the way out of NYC, and hit the driving range almost immediately after getting home.
It's a little amazing how much my good hitting at the batting cages has translated into better hitting at the driving range. I decided to go the next day as well, with plans on going to an actualy golf course for the first time in maybe 12 years the next day. About halfway through a large bucket of balls, I looked down at my right thumb, and noticed a giant indentation. A big hole was there, with all the skin pushed down into a little pile. This was sort of horrifying. Plus, I was only halfway through the bucket of balls, and I was deterimined to get my money's worth, so I kept hitting until it was just about physically impossible to keep hitting. It didn't hurt that much at the time, but I knew i'd be paying for it later.
So later in the afternoon I went for a run up at the high school track. After about a mile, I said "fuck it" and instead walked around the old school grounds. Just down the hill from the highschool was my old junior high, and just down the hill from that was my old elementary school. There's been a ton of construction in the past 12 years, so large parts of the landscape or unrecognizable. I walked down the the grade school playground and decided to play around on the jungle gym and/or work out a bit. After a few pull-ups and dips, a decided to try the monkey bars. I can't remember the last time I was on monkey bars, but back in the day, they were my thing. Seriously, I could get across them pretty damn fast. Not the fasted in the class, but still close. I don't know if you've tried monkey bars recently, but sister, i got some news: it's fucking tough. I could not believe how difficult it was to get across, even skipping three bars at a time. When I tried to go one bar at a time, i nearly gave up. I know I'm carrying more weight now than when I was 10, but I'm also much stronger, so I figured proportionally, it'd about even out. Uh uh. Very disappointing.
The worst part about the whole playground thing was that after the monkey bars and the dips, I looked at my hands. Not only did I pop a blister I didn't even know I had, but the blister was then filled with tons of rust from the jungle gym. Mmmmmmm...tetanus. So then I had to go home and perform a little home surgery, peeling back the skin, cutting some skin off, scraping underneath one layer of skin to get all the rust out. A real and literal pain. And of course now, despite all the bactine and neosporin, the wound is pink and infected. You really can't go home again, even at home.
It's a little amazing how much my good hitting at the batting cages has translated into better hitting at the driving range. I decided to go the next day as well, with plans on going to an actualy golf course for the first time in maybe 12 years the next day. About halfway through a large bucket of balls, I looked down at my right thumb, and noticed a giant indentation. A big hole was there, with all the skin pushed down into a little pile. This was sort of horrifying. Plus, I was only halfway through the bucket of balls, and I was deterimined to get my money's worth, so I kept hitting until it was just about physically impossible to keep hitting. It didn't hurt that much at the time, but I knew i'd be paying for it later.
So later in the afternoon I went for a run up at the high school track. After about a mile, I said "fuck it" and instead walked around the old school grounds. Just down the hill from the highschool was my old junior high, and just down the hill from that was my old elementary school. There's been a ton of construction in the past 12 years, so large parts of the landscape or unrecognizable. I walked down the the grade school playground and decided to play around on the jungle gym and/or work out a bit. After a few pull-ups and dips, a decided to try the monkey bars. I can't remember the last time I was on monkey bars, but back in the day, they were my thing. Seriously, I could get across them pretty damn fast. Not the fasted in the class, but still close. I don't know if you've tried monkey bars recently, but sister, i got some news: it's fucking tough. I could not believe how difficult it was to get across, even skipping three bars at a time. When I tried to go one bar at a time, i nearly gave up. I know I'm carrying more weight now than when I was 10, but I'm also much stronger, so I figured proportionally, it'd about even out. Uh uh. Very disappointing.
The worst part about the whole playground thing was that after the monkey bars and the dips, I looked at my hands. Not only did I pop a blister I didn't even know I had, but the blister was then filled with tons of rust from the jungle gym. Mmmmmmm...tetanus. So then I had to go home and perform a little home surgery, peeling back the skin, cutting some skin off, scraping underneath one layer of skin to get all the rust out. A real and literal pain. And of course now, despite all the bactine and neosporin, the wound is pink and infected. You really can't go home again, even at home.
posted by Greg at 7:07 PM
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